The City of Cape Town’s Electricity Generation and Distribution Department has been working throughout the night to restore power to Area 7. Supply has been restored to the upper and eastern parts of the CBD, including Tamboerskloof and Vredehoek. Work is underway to restore electricity in other affected areas. Eskom estimates power restoration at around 16:00. Read more below:

‘I’m pleased that power has been restored in Woodstock, Vredehoek, Gardens, Tamboerskloof, District Six, around Constitution Street, parts of the eastern CBD and down to Chiappini Street and parts of the Foreshore. There are still parts of the Atlantic Seaboard and CBD that are out and our teams are working non-stop to get that up as soon as possible via the Tafelbaai High Voltage Substation.

‘I want to thank all the city staff who were on scene without delay last night, worked through the night to identify the problem, fix it, and make sure our residents were reconnected as soon as possible. I also want to thank our residents for their patience and understanding. I know it’s been difficult for some of our residents this morning but I think the city’s rapid response to the problem has been fantastic. Those areas not yet connected will be back online as soon as possible, our teams are working flat out to reconnect everyone,’ said Cape Town Mayor, Geordin Hill-Lewis.

‘The cause of the outage has been identified as major cable damage to City and Eskom feeders in conjunction with the loss of a conductor on the Eskom overhead line. The cable damage resulted in major tripping of all cables feeding Area 7.

‘Supply into the area will be via cables that were out for maintenance. These have been returned to service and the load to portions of the City Bowl and Eastern side of the CBD has been restored. Supply to the rest of the affected areas will be returned load permitting. It is anticipated that all load should be restored by this evening.

‘The City thanks Eskom and City teams that have been working throughout last night and today. We also thank our customers for their understanding and patience,’ said Mayoral Committee Member for Energy, Councillor Beverley van Reenen.

Please note:

Outages can cause nuisance tripping and increased service requests. Residents are encouraged to reduce the risk and occurrence of nuisance tripping by switching off appliances, including geysers, air conditioners and pool pumps and leaving one light on to indicate the return of the supply.

Please wait at least 30 minutes before logging a service request alerting the City that the power in your area has not come back. Sometimes, the issue is already being resolved. City teams will do their best to attend to any outages as soon as possible.

‘All major traffic intersections are being manned, with officers doing point duty to ensure the flow of traffic. We have also put in place contingency plans for the duration of the outage to ensure public safety. We remind residents that, should they experience any emergency as a result of a prolonged outage, they should contact the City’s Public Emergency Communication Centre on 021 480 7700 from a cellphone or 107 from landline,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, Alderman JP Smith.

Any traffic light not manned by officers on point duty should be treated as four-way stops. First to stop may proceed if it is safe to do.

Residents may report any traffic- related matters such as traffic lights being out to the 24-hour Transport Information Centre on 0800 65 64 63.

Customers are encouraged to check for updates on the City’s social media pages.

Call centre severely affected:

Residents are advised to please report faults via the City’s digital platforms and SMS lines to reduce pressure on the 24-hour phone channels.

The following lines are affected:

• Motor Vehicle Registration, Traffic and Drivers Licencing and testing Contact Centre services are not available;
• Accounts and General, limited services are available;
• Water Faults, limited services are available;
• Accounts Payable Queue is out of service.

Source: City Of Cape Town